One Single
by XLI ltd
Summary: Monk and Sharona get stranded overnight. Completed.


Title: One Single

Author: XLI ltd

Disclaimer: Monk is the property of the USA Network, Mandeville Films and Touchstone Television. I only own the story itself.  


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One Single

CHAPTER 1

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It's a rainy night about midnight, Sharona and Monk are driving home from a small-secluded town on a case they just wrapped up. They're about two hours from home. As they're driving they come up to a police roadblock. Traffic is being redirected. 

Sharona looks at Monk.

"Oh what now!" She rolls down her window and asks, "Officer, what's the problem?" 

The Officer is a good-looking man in his mid thirties. 

"Sorry miss. The road's closed. You'll have to turn back." 

Adrian talking at Sharona.

"Will you-will you close the window, the rain, i-it's getting in the car." 

Sharona shoots him a look, she's getting geared up to flirt her way through. 

"Officer" she says coyly with rain dripping on her, "We're consultants with the S.F.P.D., this is Adrian Monk" pointing to her friend, "you probably heard of him." 

There's no reaction from the cop or Monk. 

"Anyway" she continues, noticing no wedding ring on his finger, "You seem to be in charge here. Don't you think it would be O.K. to let us through, I mean us being on the same team and all." 

The Officer cracks a smile and looks Sharona up and down.

"Miss" 

Sharona smiles.

"Oh, please, it's Sharona" 

"Well Sharona, I'd love to let you through, but I'm afraid not only your car, but you and that beautiful outfit of yours would never make it out." 

Monk blurts out.

"What do you mean 'never make it make out!' What happened! Is it a crater? What!? Was there an earthquake? I knew it. I always knew I'd go in an earthquake."

Monk's holding his head ready for the worst. 

"Adrian!" Sharona says, not trying to break her smile, "Would you stop? It's not an earthquake." 

The officer continues. 

"Anyway the road's washed out. This is pretty common in rain like this. Your best bet is to hit the motel back down the street. The rain looks like it's letting up soon, and the road should be clear by morning." 

Monk interjects, "What there's no other road? I'm not going back there. Hey. Are you ever going to shut the window?" 

Sharona looks at the cop and rolls her eyes motioning towards Monk.

"He just really needs to get home." 

"Well he's not getting home tonight, this is the only road out of town. Trust me just get to the motel and you'll be out of here in the morning. Sorry I couldn't be more help, but it was night to meet you Sharona." 

He sticks his hand in the car to shake her hand. Monk lifts his arms in exasperation at the extra water now getting in the car.

"Alright, yes it's nice to meet Sharona, I think you could convey by not getting her and her car extra wet." 

They're ignoring him. 

"Thank you Officer…." 

"Jake." 

"Well thanks Jake." 

She closes the window, looks at Monk, shakes her head and turns the car around with Jake giving her extra special direction. 

Monk's muttering aloud, sarcastically.

"Jake, typical, although I'm surprised, he could have been a Dirk or Brock. D-Do you date anyone with a normal name?" 

"God, Adrian I'm not dating him, he just gave us directions he was helping _us_." 

"Sure, if I wasn't in the car it there would have been a date. I noticed you noticing his ring finger." 

"Of course I noticed I was trying to flirt our way through, I didn't know the road was closed. Besides you notice everything. I mean you just noticed me noticing his damn finger." 

They drive back to the motel.

"Well here we are." Sharona states.

It's nothing special, a two story building. It doesn't look too clean, but more importantly doesn't look too dirty, but there's a missing "M" for the sign. That could be trouble.

Monk looks at the place and he looks like he's getting sick.

"Oh great, I've never had the pleasure of staying in an _otel_ before" noticing the obvious missing letter from the sign, "D-Do you think they'll fix that tonight." 

"Oh sure, Adrian I'm sure that's their top priority during a storm." 

Thinking to herself, '10 seconds to mention the sign, I thought for sure it would have been 5 or under.'

Thunder goes off. Adrian shakes. Sharona puts her dry hand on his arm and tries to calm him. 

"That was off in the distance." 

He stammers.

"I don't like this. I-I don't know about this. I think that may-maybe we should just try to find another way out of town. What town only has one way out? And just look at this place. Wh-what do you think the rooms are like? I mean I don't even have my pillowcases or" trailing off "my b-back up pillow cases and…" 

"You heard Jake, there's no other way out of town." 

Sharona parks the car and tries to get him inside.

"C'mon Adrian, it's now or never." 

He just stares at her, not moving an inch. 

She loudly states.

"Get out! Or I swear I'll open every window in this car. Would you like that?" 

He's shaking his head now. She tries to calm herself down in order to calm him down.

"It'll be O.K. We have to go inside now. O.K.? C'mon, Let's go." 

Monk reluctantly, yet carefully gets out of the car while simultaneously opening the umbrella trying to keep himself as dry as possible and takes off for the door, while Sharona puts a newspaper over her head and runs to the door. Monk is waiting for her, but he couldn't possibly open the door, he couldn't get a wipe while holding his umbrella and he couldn't use his sleeve on the wet door handle. So Sharona does the honors. Sharona gives Monk a push in because he seemed to be not entering on his own. Monk's not adjusting to say the least. The desk clerk looks up. Monk looks at Sharona as if to give one last plea, he's still standing by the door. His head and shoulder twitch the twitch that Sharona knows all too well. She starts to walk to the desk clerk, but he gently touches her elbow with his index finger to get her attention. He's already cased the room. 

He nervously speaks.

"Sh-Sharona please, I-I can't stay here." He pulls her further over, "look" he says motioning his head. 

"What?!" 

"Look" he says again pointing to the lounge area. 

The lounge area consists of a cheesy sofa, a coffee table and two chairs that don't match. She's getting the picture. 

"So, the chairs don't match, big whoop! We're not sleeping out here." 

The desk clerk shakes his head. A man walks in, he's wet. It's still raining. He walks up to the desk clerk and asks for a room. 

Monk is nervously pacing, twisting his hands, putting them to his head and back down again. 

"No, not that, well that too, but look." Pulling her over. "Look!" 

Realizing his hand is wet from touching her he takes out a wipe and cleans his hand. 

"There's-there's ashes on the coffee table. Ashes! Just lying there. On the coffee table!" 

Sharona's not amused.

"So." She says unenthusiastically. 

"So? This is the lobby, the place that says welcome. If it's like this out here, just imagine what the rooms are like. I-I…" 

"Adrian, it's one ash and it's near the ASHtray. I'm sure he was about to clean it when we walked in." 

The desk clerk and the customer are watching Monk and Sharona clearly amused by Monk's pacing and such. The desk clerk says to the customer.

"It must be his first time." 

They both laugh. He gives the man his key and the customer takes off. 

Sharona, now getting tough.

"Adrian, we're here, we're wet or at least I'm wet and I'm cold and it's midnight. I need to get some sleep and… Oh my God! Benjy! My sister's is dropping him off at ten tomorrow, I have to be home, therefor, I need to sleep now. Let's just get the rooms and get some sleep, pleeassse!" 

She puts her hand on his shoulder and continues.

"You can do this. It's just one night we'll be out of here first thing in the morning. Besides it can't be worse than Mexico." 

A look of panic comes over Monk's face.

"But wh-what if it is? What if it is? Oh my God! I never even thought of that. I-It could be…" 

"Forget I mentioned it. Please forget I even said it. We're getting the rooms."

Sharona walks up to the desk clerk with Monk standing behind her like a little boy. The desk clerk looks up. 

"Two singles." 

The desk clerk replies, "We ain't got two singles" 

"Fine, then two anything." 

"We got one single." He looks at Monk, winks and adds, "This must be your lucky night." 

Monk's not paying any attention. He's still trying to figure out a way to keep from staying in this place.

Sharona retorts. "No one's getting lucky tonight." 

She gets an idea.

"Hey, you got a cot?" 

Desk clerk shoots her down.

"Sorry little lady, all the cot's are being used." 

Sharona' getting annoyed.

"C'mon you mean to tell me…" 

"Look, we usually fill up sooner than this when the road goes." He laughs "Funny, if you just ordered the rooms when you walked in instead of critiquing the décor you'd be snug as two bugs in two separate rugs by now." 

Adrian catches the bug reference and is now holding his head with both hands. 'There's no way I'm staying here' he thinks. 

The door opens another man enters. Sharona looks at the desk clerk.

"We'll take it." Looks over at Adrian and says, "Give me your credit card." 

Monk is nervously stammering.

"I-I think we should wait till the road clears. Yeah, I-I think that's a good idea." 

Sharona gives Adrian her I'm not messing around stare.

"Adrian! Give me the card! 

"I-I can't. I'm-I'm just not down with this." 

Sharona now rotating her head and finger combating her friends out of character slang.

"Wh-what?! You're not DOWN with this? What's up wit that? You get down with this. AAIIGHT! We're getting that room." 

The man behind her says, "Come on lady, I ain't got all night."

Sharona ignores him. She's still focused on Monk.

"Adrian, for the last time give me the card." 

Adrian is walking backwards, shaking his head and twitching he's barely audible.

"I-I can't, I need to think." 

The clerk hits his hand on the desk to get Sharona's attention.

"Hey lady, I guess you're not making a man out of him tonight huh? Why don't you move to side and let the me take care of the next customer." 

Sharona pulls out her card.

"Just shut up and give me my room." 

While the clerk runs the card he asks Sharona.

"You want the adult movies, it's only a few bucks more and I think you might…" 

Sharona sneers, shakes her head. "Just call us when the road's clear." 

She takes the key. She walks over to Monk.

"I swear Adrian I don't know if this is one of your regular irregularities or you just being cheap, this is going on my expense report y'know." 

"Do-do you h-have an expense report? Anyway, this was your idea." 

Sharona's exasperated, "Oh whatever, I just want to go to bed." 

As they get ready to exit the clerk gives a clueless Monk the thumbs up sign.

They enter the room. It's really not that bad, pretty standard for a roadside motel. Sharona takes off her jacket and hangs it in the bathroom. When she comes out Monk is still standing by the door taking everything in. Sharona looks at him and says.

"Adrian, we're here and we're not leaving, you might as well make the best of it."

He starts walking, pulling out a wipe, he's making a b-line to the slightly crooked picture on the wall, over the bed, he gets his wipe ready to straighten it, but it won't move. It's firmly nailed to the wall. Monk's beside himself.

"Oh that's great! I can't sleep here. Why would they nail that hideous picture to the wall? Like someone would steal that. How am I going to sleep staring at that all night? How!?" 

Now Sharona's holding her head.

"Adrian! You couldn't stare at that picture if you tried. It's OVER THE BED!" 

He's still trying to fix it. She pleads, "Adrian, stop with the picture already, you're not going to move it." 

He doesn't hear a word she says. He gives up on the picture and straightens the lampshade on the night table, then walks to the other lampshade and does the same, he then looks down in shock.

"Oh my God!" 

He looks at Sharona.

"Shag Carpeting! D-Do you know how long this must have been here?" not letting her answer, "I bet Starsky and Hutch was a big hit when this was installed. My God! I can feel the germs coming right through my shoes. What are we going to do!" 

Sharona's not pleased at all. 

"Sharona! What are we going to do?!" Thunder interrupts his latest freak out. "Did you here that? Now what are we going to do? Sharona? Sh-Sharona?" 

Sharona is exhausted, but she knows in order for her to get any sleep she's going to have to talk him down. 

"Adrian" She says walking over to him, "You have to calm down. Number one, these types of motels usually have shag carpeting, it's-it's more like a sound buffer from room to room. I've seen dozens of…Uh, I mean, I can tell you it's not from the seventies, it actually looks pretty new." 

He nods, making a mental note that they probably are kind of new, since most customers are from rainy nights like this and if they were old they would probably be filthy or filthier to him. 

Sharona continues noting a slight degree of less panic on her friend's face.

"And two, we're in a two story building and we're on the first floor…" 

He thinks to himself, 'she's right, anyway there's a cell tower down the road if anything was going to get hit it would be that, besides it sounds like the storm's letting up.' 

"Besides" she continues, "it sounds like the storm's letting up." 

Monk's look of panic seems to be lowered to a level 5 look of fear and Sharona's happy with that. Now, they look at each other and then they look at the bed. 

CHAPTER 2

Realizing she has nothing to sleep in because her clothes are still wet. She has to figure how can she get Monk to lend her his precious shirt even though he has nine more identical ones at home just like it. Now she has to choose her next words very carefully. 

"Well I'm really beat, give me your shirt." 

Monk just stares at her with his mouth open. She thinks to herself 'O.K., so that didn't come out as gently as I'd planned'. She continues. 

"C'mon, just give me your shirt. My clothes are soaked." 

He's still staring but answers.

"Wh-what? Are you joking? H-How could you wear my shirt? It's not even your size. Besides, what would I wear? You are joking. Aren't you?" 

Sharona pleads.

"No, I'm not joking, it would be the gentlemanly thing to do you know." 

She thinks to herself, 'Of course paying for the room would have also been gentlemanly.' She continues.

"Adrian, I need to get some sleep. You have five seconds to decide. It's either me in bed next to you with my windy, rain covered clothes on, me in bed with nothing on or you being a nice guy, a human being, a gentleman and lending me your shirt. 5-4-3-2-..." 

"OK, OK, O-O.K!" he says holding his head, "I-I can't believe what I sacrifice for you." 

He goes to walk in the bathroom to change. She steps in front of him.

"Oh no, you're not going in there first, I don't have two hours for you take that shirt off. Just take it off and give it to me. I'll go in first." 

"But it makes more sense for me to go in first." 

"Why is that?" 

"Because then I'd be first." he answers, adding, "besides, it's my shirt." 

Sharona's losing patience now. 

"You do realize you could have taken the shirt off, I would've already been in and out of the bathroom, in bed and asleep by now. Instead we're having this ridiculous conversation. Adrian please, I'm exhausted." 

Monk realizes he's beaten.

"O.K. fine." 

He sees Sharona dripping all over and knows she's tired. He decides to 'suck it up' for his friend. He takes his jacket off and looks for a place to set it down, he's thinking, 'the bed, no not the bed after all there is a little rain on the jacket. There's not even a chair to put it on.' He hears Sharona's voice.

"Adrian, Adrian. What are you doing?" 

"My jacket, th-there's no place t-t…" 

"There's hangers in the bathroom, here I'll take it." 

He pulls away, "What kind of hangers?" 

She takes his jacket.

"I'll just hold it, till you give me the shirt then I'll give it back to you and you can put it wherever you like." 

As Monk turns around to remove his shirt. Sharona says, under her breath.

"I know where I'd like you to put it." 

He shrugs, " I heard that." 

Finally he reluctantly gives her his shirt and she returns his jacket, which he drapes over his arm. Sharona heads to the bathroom to change.

True to her word she emerges from the bathroom in five minutes wearing Monk's shirt. 

"You see. How fast was that? I think the hangers are acceptable for you too. Your jacket will be safe after all." 

Adrian's trying not to stare, but he's having a hard time. He's wondering, 'What's she wearing under his shirt. Is she wearing anything under his shirt? Sharona really is pretty.' He's noticed before, but now, well she looks good wearing in his shirt. 

"Adrian. You can use the bathroom now." There's no response. "Hellloo, Adrian." 

He snaps to, "Oh, I-I was just thinking. Should I wear my belt? I bet there's no belt hangers in there." 

Sharona's thinking to herself, 'Belt hangers. Is what he thinks about?' Monk's kicking himself 'belt hangers…what was I thinking'. He continues.

"Can I sleep in my pants and undershirt?" 

Sharona jokes back, in her best Pee Wee voice, "I don't know? Can you?" 

She laughs. Monk replies seriously.

"Well I can sleep in my pants or my-my under uh, you know. I mean the bottom of my pants are a little wet and then there's my socks. I think they're a little wet too. I-I don't know what to do? If I sleep in my pants the bed will get wet and dirty and if I don't sleep in my pants…I-I won't have pants on. I don't want you to be…"

Sharona cuts him off, trying to calm him down. 

"Whatever you want to do is fine with me. Just as long as you're comfortable. You don't worry about me." 

She puts her hand on his back and leads him to the bathroom.

"Just don't take an hour in there." 

He closes the door.

Sharona's sitting on the edge of the bed trying to get some news on the TV. Monk comes out fifteen minutes later in his boxers and t-shirt. His socks and shoes are still on so he can walk to the bed. She wants to laugh at his 'look', but thinks better of it. Sharona is shocked at his bathroom time.

"Oh my God. Is that some kind of record for you? I thought you'd be in there cleaning till morning." 

"I'd love to, but I have to ration my wipes. I knew we should've brought more. I-I didn't know what to do, I mean how could I start cleaning? I know there's no way to get the job done and if I started well I…" 

"That's really very interesting, but do you think we could get some sleep now? O.K., What side of the bed do you want?" 

As the words come out of her mouth, she thinks to herself. 'What have I done? How could I leave that decision up to him? Here goes two hours of sleep time.' Monk's looking nervously at the bed.

"Right, no left, no right" That was his side, after all. He continues, "Yes right, no, no left. Oh God, How am I supposed to pick? I've never slept here. What if the right side's…"

"Do you want me to pick?" 

He shakes his head and goes on.

"No! Umm, O.K. the left side. I'll sleep on the left side." 

She looks at him to make sure he's finished.

"The left. Are you sure? I don't want to be switching places all night." 

He firmly states.

"I'll sleep on the left." 

Sharona's surprised to say the least, she climbs into her side of the bed. Monk's just standing there. She looks at him.

"Are you sure you're O.K. with this?" 

He nods unconvincingly, removes his shoes and socks and gets into bed without looking too closely at it, if he did he might never have gotten in. 

They're both lying on their backs in bed now. She shuts her light. Sharona looks at him. 

"Not that I want you to change your mind or anything, but why the left?" 

"Th-the lamp on the right has a chip in it, so I just figured I'd sleep better here." 

Sharona's happy with his answer.

"I just want you to know, I'm really proud of you. I mean you're taking this all pretty well. I figured it'd be five in the morning before we'd reach this point." 

Monk frowns.

"I know-I know, it's pretty sad. I mean that I'm a grown man and you're proud of me for doing things a five year old could do." 

Sharona hears the hurt in his voice, she didn't mean to offend him.

"Adrian, I just meant..." 

"What kind of life is this? I'm-I'm barely a man. This is killing me, lying here in this filthy hell bed in this filthy hellhole under that crooked picture. I don't like being aware of everything, germs, an-and-uh, just everything. I-I don't like living like this. Even if we survive, what do I have to look forward to? Tomorrow will just be another trauma. It's s-so hard. I don't like being me. L-Look at you, you know how to live. Everything's easy for you. For me…i-it's hard, everything's hard..." 

"I know it's hard and look you're doing it. Adrian, you are a man, better than most. And anyway, my life's so great? I'm a single mother. I worry about Benjy all the time. I'm just good at covering it up, that's all. What do you have to look forward to? You are a great detective. You help people all the time. You save lives. What do I do?" 

She answers her own question. 

"Nothing. What do I have to look forward to? My next bad date?" 

"Y-You save lives too. You saved mine. I couldn't do a thing without you. You know that. And Benjy, Benjy's great, you're a great mother." 

He pauses, smiling trying to lighten things up. 

"You-You do go on some bad dates though." He chuckles, "I-I mean some bad dates. Sometimes I think…My God. What is she thinking? There were some really bad ones. Like the time…" 

"All right, enough, I get it." 

The mood is lightened. They both made each other fell a little better. She quietly laughs. 

"Thanks for reminding me." She pauses, "You O.K.?" 

"O.K. for me you mean? I-I guess so." 

Sharona asks, praying there's a yes to her next question. 

"You ready to shut the light?" There's a moment of silence. Before she can ask again. 

He quietly says. "Yes. I can shut the light. Goodnight Sharona." 

She's relieved. She pats his arm.

"Goodnight Adrian." 

She rolls over to go to sleep. Adrian's thinking to himself, 'Why did I have to go on like that?' Although that's what he does every night. Every night for the last five years he asked himself those questions over and over and over again. 'But why did I have to do it tonight? Sharona knows how I am. Why did I go on? Now she probably thinks I walk around feeling sorry for myself 24 hours a day. I mean she knows how I am, but I don't want her to think that all I do is think about it. It's bad enough that I live it. Why couldn't I just have said goodnight.' He tells himself to stop thinking and go to sleep, although he tells himself that every night too and it never works. Though tonight he starts thinking of Sharona coming out of the bathroom in his shirt. He smiles. Maybe that thought or the fact that she's lying next to him tonight, he does the unthinkable and falls asleep. 

CHAPTER 3

It's a little before 7:00am. Sharona wakes up to find herself draped over Adrian. Her head is on his shoulder, her right leg is lying over his and her right hand is on his chest. Although she's totally comfortable, inside she's a nervous wreck, thinking about her friend waking up and freaking out. Then she realizes his left hand is holding hers. She smiles at the closeness she feels. But still is wondering what her friends reaction will be if he wakes up and they're like this. She has to wonder no more. Adrian's waking up. He looks over to her and instinctively smiles. Sharona smiles back.

"Good morning." 

Adrian looks at her and realizes their predicament.

"Good morn…Oh my God, I'm sorry. I'm s-sorry." 

"What?? Why are you sorry? Why are you apologizing to me? You didn't do anything."

"I'm-I'm holding your hand…against your will. I'm sorry." 

Though they're both uncomfortable, neither one is moving because they both feel strangely comfortable. Sharona's trying to read her friend.

"Against my will? What are you talking about? What do you mean? Adrian, I'm the one that woke up all over you. Please. Don't apologize to me. You're not doing anything against my will." 

"Well-well without y-your consent, then. I-I'm sorry. I-I d-d…"

"Adrian, it's O.K. you have my consent. You're just holding my hand. It's O.K. really…O-O.K?" 

Adrian's looking in her eyes. 

"I-it's O.K.? You-You're not just saying that to be nice? I mean I don't want you to think, you know I'm one of those guys, who, you know…" 

"God, Adrian. What do you think I think of you?" 

Adrian answers nervously.

"I-I don't know. I never thought about you thinking of me." 

Sharona looks at him, puzzled. She wished she knew what was going through his head. 

"You're my best friend, you know. I trust you more than anyone. Hell, I trust you with Benji." 

Adrian smiles. 

"You know, you're really my best friend too. I mean, I-I just feel so alone all the time, but…" 

"Do you feel alone now?" 

Adrian's consciously or subconsciously caressing her hand with his thumb.

"No. I-I don't feel alone right now, but I always feel better when you're around. I-It's nice to be close to someone…Uh, I mean to you." 

They're looking into each other's eyes. 

He adds. "You know this is the first time I've slept through the night since…since, God, it seems like forever." 

Sharona's can't believe this, she's feeling all warm inside, and she's never felt so close to him before. It's like they're about to have a moment. When Adrian continues.

"D-Did you wash your hands before you came to bed?" 

Sharona rolls her eyes, thinking 'there goes the moment'. 

"Of course I washed my hands…" 

Adrian picks up her hand and brings the palm of her hand to his lips and gently kisses it. Sharona's at a loss for words, she's totally touched and shocked. She can't believe this huge move on his part. She has a shocked look on her face, but a good shocked look. Adrian notices.

"Oh, I'm sorr.." 

"You don't have to apologize, I consent." 

He gently places her hand back exactly where it was, his hand still holding hers. They're still looking into each other's eyes as though they can't look away. Sharona, not thinking clearly, moves in to kiss him. It's a gentle kiss, on the lips, though both their lips are closed there's more feeling than she could've ever imagined. Now it's her turn to apologize. 

"Oh, Adrian I hope I didn't…" 

But before she can finish, he takes his hand off hers and puts it on the side of her face and pulls her in for a kiss, a real passionate kiss. It goes on for a few long seconds when the phone rings. It rings a few times before they break, staring at each other, both wondering what the other's thinking. 

The phone's on Monk's side of the bed, but there's no way he's answering a dirty motel phone and his look conveys that to Sharona. With that she leans over him to answer it. Her shirt, well his shirt is hanging off her and onto him. His heart is racing. He doesn't know what to do. He wonders, 'Oh my God. Should I look? How can I not look? No, I shouldn't.' 

He looks. 

He thinks to himself, 'Hey, I guess I am a man.' 

"Hello" Sharona says. 

It's the clerk.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything" he says sarcastically "but I thought you might like to know, the road's clear." 

"Thanks" 

"But you better get moving, because the rain's starting to come down again and the road could wash out again. Which would mean you two lovebirds would have to spend another…" 

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks." 

She hangs up. She looks at Monk, who's trying not to look guilty for his 'guy' moment of trying to sneak a peek. 

"That was the clerk. The road's clear, but it's raining again. We have to get moving, I have to be home for Benjy." 

He nods. He looks embarrassed like he crossed a line he shouldn't have. She adds, trying to let him know everything's cool. 

"I just want you to know for the future, you have my consent, I mean it's O.K. if you ever want uh-or need to…to well…you know…and it's also O.K. you know, if you don't want to or-or if you can't." 

They smile and nod at each other. She gets up to go to the bathroom to change. Monk's lying there with a thousand new thoughts flying around his head to process.

Sharona comes out of the bathroom all dressed, her clothes are a little wrinkled. Monk doesn't notice. She hands him his shirt. 

"Thanks, I hope I didn't mess it up too much." 

"Thanks, I-I mean your welcome. I-I promise I won't be too long." 

'Yeah right' She thinks. 

But just like last night, he comes out exactly 15 minutes later. He's wearing his jacket over his undershirt and he's holding THE shirt. Sharona's thinking 'great he kisses me, but he thinks I gave his shirt cooties' she doesn't know what to think. He walks over to her and holds out the perfectly folded shirt. 

"Here, you can keep it." 

A look of disappointment comes over her face. She's not hurt, she thinks, 'this is how he is after all, but still, I can't believe he feels like he can't wear it now.' Sharona's shaking her head. 

"Yeah, I get it." 

Sensing what she's thinking, he takes her right hand, picks it up, turns it over and places the shirt on it with his other hand.

"No, no it-it's not that. It's just that when I think of you, I-I would just like to think of you wearing my shirt. You know, i-if you want to." He adds with a nervous smile, "Besides it looks better on you anyway." 

She smiles. She slowly takes the shirt.

"That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me, Adrian." 

Giving him a smile, she continues.

"I will wear it, I've never felt more comfortable in anything else." 

They head for the door. Both of them knowing, that their friendship hasn't been compromised only made better, deeper and more meaningful than before. What ever happens or doesn't happen won't affect their bond, their foundation, and their true love for one another.

Monk stops at the door and looks at Sharona to open it. He still has to ration the wipes. She shakes her head and walks past him to the door.

"Don't worry. I got it." 

She opens the door. Monks shyly, but playfully asks.

"Hey Sharona. M-Maybe I mean someday, maybe the next bad date you go on could be with me? You know, sometime?" 

Sharona turns to him.

"Yeah" with a laugh, "I can definitely see that." 

Getting back to their old selves, she adds. 

"And in the meantime we can discuss my expense report." 

"I thought we agreed, you don't have an expense report." 

"Adrian, you're paying me for this room." 

Adrian's smiling and shaking his head.

"Again, this-this was your idea, you know." 

They exit.

THE END


End file.
